'21 | Latvian Business Guide
Human Resources Employment relationships in Latvia are regulated by the Labour Law, which transposes many aspects of EU employment law and social policy directives, such as those relating to equal treatment, collective redundancy, working hours, and rest breaks. Monitoring of Labour Law compliance is executed by the State Labour Inspectorate and representatives of employers and trade unions.
Qualified talent pool
62%
of people in the 25 - 34 year old age group know at least two foreign languages
High rates of university attendance (81%, gross enrolment ratio)
3
Large proportion of international students
28
Work productivity is kept high by Latvia’s relatively low number of public holidays: • 1 January – New Year Holiday • 2 days (set yearly) – Good Friday and Easter Monday • 1 May – Labour Day • 4 May – Independence Proclamation Day • 23 and 24 June – Midsummer Days • 18 November – National Independence Day • 24, 25 and 26 December – Christmas Eve and Christmas • 31 December – New Year’s Eve At the beginning of May 2021, the registered unemployment rate in the country was 7.9%, and in the capital Riga – 6%. In March 2021, the unemployment rate was 8.7%, which is higher than average rates in EU-27 (7.3%) and the euro area (8.1%). The highest increase in unemployment was in professions in retail and hospitality, while there has been an increase in vacancies in the public sector, media, public relations, rescue services, security and defence. There is a high demand for highly skilled professionals, especially in the IT sector, due to digitalization and automation trends. The forecasts by the Ministry of Economics estimates that the unemployment rate could stay at the level of 7.8% and decrease to 7% only in the next year. Statistics from the State Employment Agency reveal that in 2019, most vacancies were registered in major groups of medium-skilled occupations (lorry drivers, house builders, retail shop assistants, cooks), followed by highly-skilled occupations (programmers, sales managers, sales representatives, senior experts) and low-skilled occupations (ancillary workers, construction labourers, cleaners, shop workers). Nevertheless, the greatest increase in demand in comparison to the previous year was registered precisely in occupations in the medium-skilled group, particularly in the major groups of skilled workers and craftsmen. Source: Eurostat
According to the results of Eurobarometer research, Latvia ranks second among European states for the percentage of residents, who in addition to their mother tongue can speak at least one foreign language: 95% of Latvia’s residents are fluent in some foreign language and 49% can speak at least two foreign languages (1st highest score). 13% can speak at least three foreign languages. Moreover 44% of respondents acknowledge that they speak a foreign language on a daily basis – at work or in their private lives. Source: Eurobarometer
The majority of adults know Russian, English and German. Other popular languages in Latvia are Lithuanian, Polish and French.
